lighting question. HELP NEEDED

[wenszoo]

I currently have a 75 gallon reef tank with a coralife lunarlight compact floresent light. I am thinking about adding 2 coralife t-5 light set ups.

 

[graveyardworm]

Can you provide a link for the T-5 setups and your reason for changing?

 

[wenszoo]

Wanting to get rid of red alge that we have been battling for months and months. Plus we want to increase lighting for our corals. The link is esuweb.com

 

[graveyardworm]

Better look close at the wattage I dont think those are HO T-5's. If your looking for inexpensive T-5 that are decent, I'll post some links.

 

[graveyardworm]

I just purchased this one, should be here on friday. I got the 4 x 39 watt 36" fixture. Also check these. To get the most from the T-5 you need to get the ones with individual reflectors. The ones I posted dont have that, but they can be upgraded.

 

[theevoys]

Do you have a skimmer on your tank? How often do you do water changes? How much flow do you have in there? One of the easiest and cheapest way to fight red slime is to increase flow in the tank.

 

[wenszoo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6752403#post6752403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by theevoys
Do you have a skimmer on your tank? How often do you do water changes? How much flow do you have in there? One of the easiest and cheapest way to fight red slime is to increase flow in the tank.

skimmer yes.
just did 2 in the past week and 1/2 to increase salitity which is now 1.025. as for flow I have increased but plan to add more. I have 3 maxijet 1200's in tank plus I have a large rio for my sump.

 

[wenszoo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6752106#post6752106 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by graveyardworm
Can you provide a link for the T-5 setups and your reason for changing?

oh by the way not changing just adding more lights

 

[acroporid23]

i would say ditch ur current lighting and get MH much better as for algae it is effected by phosphates not really lighting well at least slime algae anyhow

 

[DaveAngie79]

http://hellolights.com/25methalbalk.html
depending on the types of corals you want to have this may be a better lighting system for you and wont cost to much more just a some blue acents

 

[graveyardworm]

I just got my new T-5 set up it's all hooked up and looks very nice. The lights looks very 50/50 pc'ish but brighter. Right now it has has two actinics and two 10,000k's. I may switch out one of the actinics for another 10,000k. not sure yet if I'd ditch my MH for T-5, I do like the lower energy cost and less heat with the T-5's, but I miss the shimmer. I would definately go T-5 over PC though.

 

[graveyardworm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6759491#post6759491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wenszoo
oh by the way not changing just adding more lights

Not sure how much the fixture your looking at is, but IMO it you would be wiser to just upgrade your rather than trying to supplement it. I dont know how much research you've put into the T-5's, but over time you'll be saving by just doing a complete upgrade. PC bulbs need to be changed every 6 months, T-5 every two years. Set up properly T-5's are brighter watt for watt than PC. Not quite sure about heat but I remember reading somewhere the T-5's also run cooler.

The fixtures you linked to probably wouldnt help against the PC given the low wattage and improper reflectors.

 

[wenszoo]

added lights last night and looks great

 

[graveyardworm]

Any pics?